| 1982 | Russ Bengel and supporters launch the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy and announce plans for the Milli-Ander Wetland Restoration. |
| 1984 | The Conservancy kicks off a major annual fundraiser, the Michigan Wildlife Art Festival, in Southfield. |
| 1984 | MWC completes the Milli-Ander Wetland Restoration Project. |
| 1985 | The Conservancy launches the Michigan Trout Stream Restoration Project, a catalyst for stream habitat work throughout the state. |
| 1986 | MWC publishes a research paper on genetics issues in wild turkey management that is endorsed by the Technical Committee of the National Wild Turkey Federation. The technical paper causes considerable controversy, but the DNR follows its recommendations. |
| 1987 | The Conservancy’s featured project, the Southern Michigan Wild Turkey Restoration, helps bring wild-strain turkeys to our state. |
| 1988 | The organization’s Rights-Of-Way For Wildlife Program begins restoring critical wildlife habitat along Michigan’s powerlines, gas pipeline corridors, and highways. The Conservancy receives national recognition for its innovative effort. |
| 1989 | MWC receives the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association’s “Clean Waters Award” for its innovative Rouge River Fish Habitat Restoration Project in Oakland County. |
| 1990 | A major effort by the Conservancy to restore Michigan’s wetlands continues to gain momentum with the help of major partners including the U.S. Forest Service. |
| 1992 | The Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explore ways to restore wetlands on private lands. The resulting partnership, the Michigan Private Wetlands Program, sets new standards for cost-efficiency in restoring drained basins for wetland wildlife and trains volunteers to help in a wide variety of ways. |
| 1992 | The Conservancy starts training drain commissioners on ways to reduce their impact on the environment. |
| 1994 | The Conservancy purchases land for its Bengel Wildlife Center from the City of Lansing. |
| 1996 | The Conservancy launches a major effort to restore wetlands, prairies, and other habitats on nature centers in southern Michigan. |
| 1998 | The organization launches an Urban Wildlife Initiative, and conceives and organizes the Nature Education Sites For Tomorrow Program (NEST) which develops fish and wildlife habitats and outdoor education areas on school grounds throughout Michigan. The Conservancy later hosts a workshop for 120 teachers and administrators involved in the program to teach them how best to use natural resources on their school property for education. |
| 1999 | The Conservancy begins advocating planning for Farmland and Open Space Preservation. |
| 2000 | The Bengel Wildlife Center is formally dedicated. |
| 2001 | The Conservancy announces the initial results of its research on the cougar in Michigan including DNA evidence of the presence of the endangered species in the state. |
| 2002 | MWC gains national recognition for its field studies of the cougar and its innovative methods for detecting large predators. |
